148 TSIMSHIAN MYTHOLOGY [hth. amn. 31 



The next morning a shout was heard. Behold! a grizzly bear is 

 coming down the river. Therefore the chief said, "Let the hunters 

 go and kill it for me!" Then the young man made himself ready, 

 went across and met the grizzly bear, and shot it with his good arrow, 

 but it broke. He took another one out of his quiver; and when he 

 intended to shoot again, Ins bow broke. He threw it away and took 

 up his spear; and while he attacked it, his spear broke also. There- 

 fore the grizzly bear came to him and killed him. The chief took him 

 and cut hiin in two, and hung him up with the two other brothers in 

 the corner of his house. 



Thus the rest of the brothers set out one at a time. They all met 

 the same dangers, and all their widows were left in the camp. Only 

 the youngest brother now remained. He was crying for the loss of 

 his nine brothers; and when the days of his mourning were over, he 

 prepared to start, but the nine widows did not want to let him go, 

 because their husbands had all been lost : but the young man insisted 

 on going. He wanted to see what had happened to his nine brothers 

 who had been lost, and all the widows were weeping. 



The young man also wept bitterly, and he said, "Why did not one 

 of my brothers go in another direction ? They all went in the same 

 direction." And he lifted up his voice and wept bitterly, and all the 

 widows wept with him. Then the young man said to his sisters-in- 

 law, "I shall come back again, and I shall take you down home when 

 I come back from there." 



Then he set out, and took all his good, strong weapons. He put 

 on his hunting-garment, and took food with him. When he had 

 gone some distance from the camp, he met a large, fat porcupine; 

 but this young man went another way, thinking that he would not 

 touch the porcupine, and he thought, "Maybe my nine brothers met 

 it on then way." 



After he had gone a little farther, he saw a fine white she-bear 

 feeding on the green grass. He went to her and shot her, and she 

 fell down dead. The young man rolled the bear over, and saw the 

 beautiful white fur on her belly, and he touched it with his hand, 

 and said, "What makes your belly so big?" 



Then the she-bear was all of a sudden transformed into a beautiful 

 young woman, and she laughed when the young man touched her 

 with his hand. 1 She said, "Your brothers did not do what you have 

 done to me, therefore they were all slain by the chief in the grizzly- 

 bear village yonder." 



The young man staid with her; and the pretty woman said, 2 

 "You may go down to the grizzly-bear town, and I will tell you 



' Original: Da sa-sit-ya'ksa'mEs-6'la a sEm-ama-p!a'sEm su-p!a'sEm hana'°xda, sa-sis'a'xsit a asi at 

 dEra da'milda su-pla'sEm y!6'°ta ba'n dEda an'o'ndit. 

 2 Original: Ada k!a-sila-gam-mr°lkda su-p!a'sEm y!6'°ta; ada a'lg ixga ama-p!a'sEm hana'°xga°. 



